The Gilas Pilipinas women’s team might have suffered an early exit in the 2026 FIBA Olympic pre-qualifying tournament but head coach Burke ‘BT’ Toews believes his team took away valuable lessons in the three games they played.

Even with the 1-2 record in his first tournament with the team, Toews sees the Nationals heading into the right direction, just by looking at how much that team had improved through the games.

The veteran internationalist, however, admitted that the team is still finding its identity.

“One (win) doesn't give you an identity but we’re definitely headed in the right direction,” said Toews after Gilas held off Senegal, 79-75 to exit the tournament with a win.

“We need to play with passion, which is something that the Gilas team always does and as Jack Animam said yesterday, ‘fight’ but fighting is not enough at this level,” he added. “You have to have your brain to follow so we’re still waiting for the execution to get better and fewer hiccups in the game.”

The win against Senegal, however, offered a glimpse of the Nationals potential as after collapsing in the fourth quarter in their game against Mexico, and suffering a huge defeat at the hands of Canada, the Filipinas displayed poise and resolve to fend off a late rally from Senegal.

“We came out with the right mindset and you saw that throughout the game. It was close. It was close. We looked like we were going the other way and then we came back. We fought, we fought hard,” said Toews.

According to Toews, it was the best game of the Filipinas on both ends of the floor. They were making stops and converting the opportunities with a more balanced offense.

Vanessa de Jesus and 18-year-old Sophia Dignadice led the way with 16 apiece while Kacey Dela Rosa and Jack Animam also had 16 and 14, respectively.

“We’re not quite there yet but we’re headed in the right direction,” said Toews.